Thank You
by LiKaTaSa
Summary: One of those nights when Maka feels particularly grateful of her partner. Let's just say 'Thank You, Soul." is going to be a smirk-trigger from now on..


A/N: Wow the ending of this is oh, so very lame. Well whatever. I still think it's cute...

Just a little drabble I wrote one day whilst feeling depressed. I guess the writer in my wanted to cheer me up with a little fluff. Well, teehee and please review!

* * *

"Maka, calm down. Think before you go and get yourself killed." These words only make her grip me tighter and growl.

"You're underestimating me, Soul." She says with irritation and determination shining bright in her eyes.

"No, I'm not. You're a good fighter, but this... this is dangerous, Maka." I say with all the somberness of Death the Kid.

"Geez, Soul, you're acting like we're fighting a deadly beast." She says with a scoff.

I shrug. "We might as well be with the way you're going about this."

She lets her fingers dig into my wrists as she tries to steady her unstable feet. "Why do you like making fun of me?"

I smirk. "I'm not teasing Maka, you can seriously hurt yourself if you let yourself go all willy-nilly across the ice before actually learning how to skate."

"If Black Star can do it, so can I." And we're back to the root of this whole situation. Of course Black Star had to come to class with his olympic skating medal and of course he had to specifically boast to _Maka_ about it.

That is why we're out here, at night, on a Saturday, at the lake, in the freezing cold, with me teaching Maka how to skate.

"Okay, Maka. I can respect that, and I'm sure once you get the hang of this you'll be way better at skating than that idiot, and you'll look way cooler, too. But right now, we need to start at the basics. You can't go from learning to tie your skates to being a professional."

"Yeah, I get it, Soul." Yes, her cold tone is very convincing. Not.

I raise a brow. "Really? Cause I don't think you do."

She sighs and looks up from her wobbly feet to meet my gaze with an apologetic one. "I'm sorry, Soul. I know I'm being kind of snappy with you, it's just... He gets on my nerves, Soul!"

I let my smirk melt into an understanding smile. "I know, Maka. And trust me, I want to help you beat him, but you're going to have to follow the steps."

She lets out a breath and nods. "Okay, what do I do?"

"First, please stop digging your nails into me." She chuckles nervously and I feel her grip loosen, if only slightly. "Good, now I'm going to lead you over to thicker ice, then I'm going to let you go and-"

"Don't let me go." She says instantly. I chuckle and she ducks her head. "I didn't mean it like _that..._"

"I know Maka..." I say with a sigh. "Okay, now bend your knees slightly so I can pull you over there without you falling over and pulling me down with you."

She does what I told her and begin to skate backwards to an area with thicker ice to practice on. I slowly let go of her wrists, but her hands are still tight around mine. I look at her for a minute and she shakes her head to clear it.

How cute...

She lets go pretty roughly, causing her to lose balance and begin to slide backwards, with her struggling to stay upright. "Soul! Soul, help me!"

I skate over to her pretty quickly, due to the slight tremor in her voice, and I catch her right before she falls. Her back is resting on my right arm and my left hand has got her hand. "I got you."

Her face goes red from embarrassment. "Th-thanks, Soul."

I frown. "Are you cold?"

She shakes her head quickly. "N-no, quite the op-opposite, a-actually..."

I furrow my brow in confusion. "What?"

"N-nothing! Just help me up already!" She says somewhat angrily.

"Say please." I say with a smirk.

"SOUL!"

"Alright, alright, don't make me deaf, woman." I pull her up slowly, keeping my hand on her back to keep her steady and barely noticing the crushing hold she has on my hand. I look up at her, and her face is still slightly red, but I ignore that. "You okay?"

She nods. "I'm great, tip-top, a-okay!"

I snicker and pat her beanie-covered head. "Yeah, alright. Okay, let's get started then."

"Okay." She lets out a breath of relief before setting a determined stance. "What first, Mr. Eater?"

"Really, Maka?"

"It sets the mood, alright?"

"Yeah okay, Miss Albarn."

"No, the teachers don't have to be formal, only students do!"

"You're so not acting cool right now, Maka..."

"If I wasn't scared to let go of you..."

"I'd have a new crack in my skull?"

"...Yes."

I laugh and pull away from her, after assuring her steadiness. "Okay, let's start with falls."

"Falls? As in, falling down?"

I raise a brow. "Yes?"

"On purpose?" She looks at me like I'm mental.

"It's an important lesson, you need to learn how to fall right so you don't break any bones."

"Oh, like in battle, when the enemy strikes unexpectedly and I have to move at the very last minute and still manage to land on my feet and strike without pause?" Maka stares at me blandly. "Yeah, I think I can fall, Soul."

"Fine, but don't send me the bill when you're getting treatment from Nygus." I say, putting my hands up in surrender.

"We share income, Soul. Technically, it's always going to be_ our_ bill."

"Do you want to learn to skate or not?"

She looks away sheepishly. "Yes..."

"Okay. Now I want you bend your knees like you did before, " she does, "and keep the top half of your body straight."

She looks likes someone copping a squat on slippery ice... It's actually pretty adorable.

I skate forward and adjust her posture. "Like _this_."

She nods quickly and I let her go. I go in front of her and lift my right leg just above the ice and make a sweeping motion behind me. You know... the basic stride movement...

Geez, can you even skate? Do you know what I'm talking about _at all?_

Aw man... I'm breaking the fourth wall... So not cool...

Anyways, pretty soon she was able to move pretty slowly across the ice, mostly on her own. She looks up at me with a huge grin. "I'm doing it Soul!"

I grin back. "Yeah you are."

After pulling her around for a while, finally getting to a point where she can move somewhat steadily without me, I pull her back to the grass and lead her to a bench where I proceed to start unlacing her skates. Meanwhile, her laughs are still chiming and I feel her quivering with excitement as her breaths come in gasps from the cool winter air and hard work.

"Did you see? By the end, I was able to skate all on my own! I bet Black Star couldn't do that 'till his tenth lesson! That was so cool, Soul, the ice felt like I was walking on air!"

I smile warmly at her as she starts pulling on her boots and I begin to remove my own skates. She continues chattering on excitedly until we get back to our apartment where she turns to me while I begin to unlock the door.

And something unexpected happens.

Something warm is placed on my cheek, causing my whole face to heat up despite the chilly air surrounding me.

She pulls back and I turn to her, my eyes wide and mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Thank you, Soul. You're a great teacher." She says with a small smile and her cheeks tinted an appealing shade of pink.

"Uh... No problem, Maka." I say quietly as the door opens. I pad in quietly and she follows behind, a comfortable silence falling between us as we shuffle through the dark. I pull off my coat and throw it on the couch, making her groan and pick it up. She hangs them both up as I open the fridge and pull out the milk.

She walks into the kitchen and looks between the carton and me, almost daring me to drink straight from the carton.

"You're lucky it's cold outside." I say with a smirk as I continue to pull out a mug. I pull a second one out and gesture to her with it. "Warm milk?"

She smiles. "Yes please!"

I pour the milk into the mugs, then place them in the microwave, too tired to heat the milk up on the stove. I put the milk away as the mugs heat up and I lean on the counter, watching Maka as she struggles with her pigtail. I chuckle and walk over to her, pushing her hands away from the culprit. "Soul? What-"

I swiftly pull out the hair tie, letting my fingers softly thread themselves into her silky hair to pull out any tangles. I repeat the motion with the other pigtail, them just comb my fingers through her hair to let it all fall perfectly. I hesitate with pulling my hand away from her soft tresses and settle for patting her head once before pulling away to go open the microwave for the milk. I pull the mugs over to the couch and sit down with a groan, holding the other mug out for Maka as she follows suit.

"My feet hurt..." She murmurs, squeezing her feet.

Without a word, I set my mug down and pull her feet over my lap, causing her to squeak and sit sideways on the couch. I pull the socks off of her adorably dainty feet and begin with the left one, the one closest to me. I let my thumb dig into her arch, rubbing out any knots she might have.

She groans and relaxes into the couch, causing me to smirk.

I continue to rub her foot, letting my fingers rub her heel, her ankle, then moving on to her right and repeating the action. I smile at her obvious pleasure from my foot massage and then after awhile, I stop and just let her legs rest on mine. I let my hands fold behind my head as I lean back. I let a yawn escape me and feel myself slipping away when it happens again.

I feel something warm on my cheek, this time it lingers before pulling away. "Thank you... Soul..."

My eyes drift over to Maka who looks on at me with a soft gaze and a small smile on her face. I continue staring on at her, letting my arms drop slowly to my sides. I lean forward to feel the blush on Maka's cheek. I smile slightly and look up at her eyes which are wide with surprise and confusion. I find myself leaning forward until my lips are just a breath away from touching hers. "No problem... Maka..."

And there it is, just a feather-light brush. Nothing special.

And that's all there is. Barely any contact lasting for three... six... nine...

She pulls away from me, too soon. She blushes and looks away, clearing her throat. "Um... Well... Yeah, thanks... I'm gonna... Go... To bed.."

I clear my throat as she pulls herself up from the couch. "Erm... Yeah... Cool... Okay... I'll do... That... Too, I guess.."

She walks backwards to her room, awkwardly. "Well, um... Goodnight, Soul."

I copy her movements to my door. "Yeah.. 'Night, Maka. Sleep tight."

"You too."

We both slink into our rooms and I let out a breath and lay on my bed. I turn on my side and smile lightly.

_'Thank you, Soul.'_ is definitely going to be a smirk-trigger now...


End file.
